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Expanding on the author’s year-long study of the shrimp and salmon aquaculture industries as an Alicia Patterson Foundation Fellow, the book lays out the rationale behind aquaculture development: increasing the world food supply and creating jobs in areas hard hit by declining landings in wild fisheries. However, reality is something else entirely: ravaged ecosystems and bankrupted local economies. The author expands on his existing case studies, near his homes in eastern Maine, and Sonora, Mexi

3 Responses to “Swimming in Circles: Aquaculture and the End of Wild Oceans”

This review is from: Swimming in Circles: Aquaculture and the End of Wild Oceans (Paperback)

Molyneaux has decided to take up the banner and raise awareness about the possabilities of aquaculture as a means of sustainance for the worlds population. He mostly focuses on the bad elements of the aquaculture revolution and points out the destruction and impact on lives that this emerging industry has brought with it.
As a student of aquaculture I was disheartend to read this book as my view is that aquaculture is indeed the only way forward for us if we want to consume any type of fish without doing irreverseible damage to the worlds rivers and oceans. While I agree with Molyneaux that there is significant drawbacks to the practices that we have followed so far, and that big industry needs to be monitired and forced to play by the rules, I still feel that this industry is in its infancy and does hold hope for the world.
The book is punctuated by bad spelling and formatting of paragraphs and at the end there is a disclaimer that they ran out of time. There were a number of times through the reading of the book where these errors made me think of stopping my reading of the book but I carried on and I am glad I did. Molyneaux did some great research when writing the book but there is one quote by a captain from Gloucester, MA whose last name was James and I didnt see him referenced in the sources at the end of the book. The quote was about the Captains views on trawling at the time (1920’s). If anyone knows what this quote was sourced from can you let me know as I would like to read it.
Anyhow this is my first review on AMAZON and I do recommend this book, as its important that people understand the challanges faced with bringing that slab of salmon or pound of shrimp to your table.

This review is from: Swimming in Circles: Aquaculture and the End of Wild Oceans (Paperback)

I have finished “Swimming in Circles” and it has made a difference for me in understanding many arenas. I have a clearer understanding of the battle being waged between technocrats and naturalists. I am far more aware of the impact economic motivators are having on our ecosystem and their threat to sustainability. I believe Molyneaux has successfully balanced diplomatic protocol with journalistic responsibility. It is important to raise consciousness and at the same time I see, now, there is also a sense of urgency in doing so.
Molyneaux’s writing is an example of what is possible when a wild and youthful Kerouacian grows beyond young paradigms and doesn’t sell out, but rather he builds on top of the worlds he has known and creates new models for enlightened living, freedom and fulfillment.

This review is from: Swimming in Circles: Aquaculture and the End of Wild Oceans (Paperback)

Molyneaux is a good writer. The format of his nonfiction piece, “Swimming in circles, aquaculture and the end of wild oceans” is compelling and his arguments are sound. He sets up a straw-man argument of “the wonders that aquaculture promises humanity” and then systematically unravels the false assertions and mistakes made by the capitalists and politicians involved in perpetuating the altogether poor environmental decisions that belie current aquaculture and commercial fishing practices. The first chapters highlight the positive effects that aquaculture has granted us from an optimist point of view and it slowly points out the flaws of farming monoculture seafood at commercially viable levels until it seems like a worse idea than simply fishing for seafood.
If you are of a camp that believes that there should be little to no environmental legislation or fishing quotas, you will hate this book after the first chapter, as Molyneaux is pro-regulation with an emphasis on sustainability.
Questioning aquaculture as opposed to wild fish harvesting leads Molyneaux to study the underpinnings of globalization and international trade. There are some great insights gleaned from this road of analysis: we don’t compute the real price of fresh water or overfishing.
With that said, the book is hampered by editing mistakes. Molyneaux has missing punctuation in some entire chapters, (questions ending in periods or no commas where commas are needed) the occasional missing letters (low instead of slow), or format continuity. In chapter 4, “The boys,” some of the “boys” have subtitles that sum up their positions in the field of aquaculture, while others, instead, have just a location after their name. Any editor could have caught these and fixed them to keep them from distracting a nitpicking reader.
If you are an educator in environmental or life science, there is 4 page synopsis on the crash of the sea urchin stock in Maine due to over-exploitation that would make a perfect excerpt to represent what has happened to so many other wild-caught sea food stocks.